In this Chemthink tutorial and question set, you will explore atomic structure and complete a short quiz. Topics include:

mass, charge, and function of subatomic particles

protons, neutrons, and electrons

This new HTML5 version was built from the ground up to run on iPads, mobile phones, Chromebooks, and real computers in any HTML5-capable browser. Please let us know if you have any issues. Thank you so much to Mr. Charles Sprandal for creating the original version of this wonderful tutorial!

The following fill-in-the-blank notes were provided by Rebecca Carlock at Centennial High School.

(20) comments

Two suggestions. 1) repost the old none HTML5 version.
2) The old chemthink website was brilliant in that it allowed teachers to have student sign up and teachers could see if students had viewed the tutorial and how many times it took them to complete the question set. This was a great formative tool to allow me as the teacher to see which of my students got the concepts “right out of the box” and which ones struggled. It would allow me to provide extra support for those that struggled through the questions. I would allow like to suggest that if you can go this route to have a record of which questions they got wrong. I currently use an APP called ZIPGRADE to mark my multiple choice tests. The app allows me to see for all questions the percentage correct/incorrect. My multiple choice test are often prepared with groups of questions assessing the same concept or skill and I can quickly see where there are problems of understanding.

PS I am glad that you have taken it upon your self to re-introduce these. They are an awesome teaching tool!!!!!

1) Is there an issue with the HTML5 version? I tried to capture all of the features of the old Flash version, and I would prefer to not have links to two versions if they are functional duplicates. Also, I won’t be able to make changes to the Flash version, such as adding back the database functionality you asked for in suggestion #2 below. This means that the HTML5 version will always be more capable than the Flash version.

2) I like the idea to keep track of students responses question-by-question. I need to be careful with this, however, as the servers required to handle this type of tracking will significantly increase the operating cost of the system. I run another free site called “quizevolved.com” that does exactly what you are referring to, and based on my experience with Quizevolved and the level of traffic Chemthink sees, it might mean that I would have to pay $1000-$2000 each year to keep things running. At that level I would definitely need to think about how to develop a consistent revenue stream (i.e. Google Adsense ads, multi-year grants, etc.). The old database was designed to store significantly less information, so could be run for extremely cheaply.

I created an account but I cannot run the simulations??? I can set a due date but nothing happens after I click the arrow. I would also love to have access to the old simulations. They are an excellent teaching tool – thank you for working to bring them back.

The new version of ChemThink is currently set up so that only student accounts can do tutorials and question sets. As a teacher, I recommend making a mock student account so that you can try everything.

Could you please remind me how to get students into the classes? Do they just log in (set up a user name and password) then choose a class to join? There isn’t some sort of code I need to give them? Also, will this new version allow me to see how many questions the students got correct? Thanks!

Great questions!
1. As a teacher you will need to create a teacher account. Once you do this, create a class and give the class code to your students.
2. Your students will need to create student accounts. When they do this they will have the option to enter the code you gave them. If they forget, they can always go back later and join your class with the code.

I recommend creating a mock student account so you can try everything yourself. With your mock student account, you should be able to join your class and try the tutorials and question sets. You should then be able to switch back to your teacher account to see your progress.

I had the same trouble, Leslie; you have to set a calendar date AND a time at the –:– — prompt, like 11:59 PM. Then when you click the arrow it will save the due date and the students in that class can see it, etc.

Hear hear to all the kudos, Chris, it’s great to have ChemThink again! It is a truly effective tool for engaging students’ understanding with these concepts.

PS, Chris, does your algorithm have the student last name and first name reversed under the “My Students” button for a class? When logged in as teacher I see my students listed alpha by last name under the “Assignments” button (as expected), but listed alpha by first name under the “My Students” button…still with a comma between the names in “lastname, firstname” format, but the student’s first name is unexpectedly listed before the comma.

I created an account for my jr hs science classes. Most of the students were able to create an account and join the class. However, there were a handful that created accounts but couldn’t log in. It kept saying the username or password was wrong. I updated the information from my teacher account but they can’t log in still.
How do we fix this?

1. If you haven’t tried the “Edit Student” screen under your teacher account, give it a shot. You should be able to make a simple password that you can then use in combination with their username to log in as your student.

2. If you have gone to the “Edit Student” screen to change their password, I suspect that there might be a discrepancy between the password they are typing into your “Edit Student” screen and the password they are typing into their own device. For example, if you type a password on an iPad or a cell phone, it might automatically capitalize the first letter, whereas if you type the same password on a real keyboard it won’t automatically capitalize.

No worries! You aren’t doing anything wrong, you just need to create an account and log in. This is actually the intended behavior.

One of the big feature requests for the new ChemThink was to require a student log in so that teachers could track student progress on the tutorials. So far “Atomic Structure” and “The Particulate Nature of Matter” have been ported over. I am currently working on “Ionic Bonding”, and hope to have it up and running on the new server within the next few weeks. My goal is to have all of the tutorials done by the end of the 2017-2018 school year.

All of the simulations are currently available. 9 of them are in their old Flash form — these ones are not connected to the new server and don’t have any login or tracking. 2 of them (“Atomic Structure” and “The Particulate Nature of Matter”) have been ported over to HTML5 and are available in the new system, which requires a student login for access.